


Zoey's Extraordinary Secret

by Shananigans402



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23773708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shananigans402/pseuds/Shananigans402
Summary: Zoey decides it's time to tell Simon about her powers. Turns out, that's not the only secret that will be shared that night.
Relationships: Zoey Clarke/Simon Haynes
Comments: 11
Kudos: 39





	Zoey's Extraordinary Secret

Zoey shifted closer to Simon, resting her head against his chest and letting out a quiet, content hum when he moved his arm from the back of the couch to wrap around her waist to keep her close. It was moments like this where Zoey felt safe, comforted, and completely at peace - feelings that she hadn’t often experienced over the last few years. 

However, the nagging feeling of uncertainty and doubt that were becoming increasingly harder to keep at bay began to creep in to her state of total contentment. She tried to distract herself by focusing on the movie they were watching, but it wasn’t long before her thoughts consumed her.

She and Simon had been together for two months, eight blissful and wonderful weeks that had far exceeded Zoey’s expectations for what it would be like to finally be with the man who had captured her attention from the day he started at SPRQ Point. Despite some initial concerns about adding a romantic component into their already complex relationship dynamic, so far, their previous roles of friends, coworkers, and confidants had only been improved by now being a real couple.

Yes, things were going very well, but there was a lingering sense of fear that was never far from Zoey’s mind. She had yet to tell Simon about her power, or special ability, or whatever one would classify it, and she dreaded having to let him in on the secret that only a select few of the people closest to her knew. 

There were times she debated keeping it to herself, after all, he wouldn’t be able to judge her or reject her if he didn’t know…but she never entertained that thought for long. One of the best things about their relationship was their honesty - they had been open and real with each other from day one, and she couldn’t imagine keeping something so big from him. She still hoped that one day her powers would go away and she could go back to her normal life without this sudden obligation to help those who shared their heart songs with her. But she couldn’t be sure that would ever happen and she refused to keep her powers from Simon hidden, especially if she was stuck with them for life.

Zoey knew she had to tell him - but she kept waiting for the perfect moment to do so. As much as she didn’t want to suffer another catastrophe like her glitch, something along those lines might just give her the push she needed to open up to him. On the other hand, that day had been beyond stressful and she couldn’t imagine having to deal with singing her heart songs out loud while trying to explain her powers to her boyfriend without making him seriously question her sanity.

Deep down, Zoey knew the perfect situation would never present itself, she just had to pick a time and do it. Although she was tempted to put it off for months, or even years, until whatever was between them developed into something so stable that she would have less fear that revealing her secret would cause her to lose him. 

That wasn’t fair to either of them though; she didn’t want to wait until a point where he felt trapped or unable to leave if it was too much to deal with and she was already consumed by worries about keeping her powers hidden from him, drawing things out would make it worse, not better. 

Besides, she knew that if she did wait to tell him until things were even more serious between them and he decided to leave, it would hurt far more than getting it over with now. The thought of losing Simon already caused her stomach to tighten with nerves and a slight nauseous feeling to settle deep in her gut. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Simon asked, drawing Zoey’s attention from where it had been fixed on the television in a mindless stare while her thoughts were elsewhere. She shifted her position to pull back enough to see Simon watching her with a mildly concerned expression. 

She supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised that he had picked up on the fact that something was off. Simon was always very good at reading her moods, even without having to see her face or hear her voice. She was sure her muscles had been tensing while she got lost in her thoughts, a dead giveaway to the stressful state she was in. 

Although a part of her was tempted to brush off his concern with a vague comment about being distracted by thoughts of work, she knew now was as good a time as any to say what was on her mind. If Simon didn’t like what she had to say or didn’t believe her, it wouldn’t really make a difference if she told him now, tomorrow, or a month from now. 

“Actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about,” Zoey said as she put a bit more space between them and she pulled her legs up onto the couch to sit facing him.

“Okay,” Simon replied slowly, his concerned expression remaining firmly in place as he reached over to grab the remote, shutting off the TV before shifting on the couch to give her his full attention, “What’s up?”

A small smile played on her lips; the way Simon would always stop whatever he was doing to pay attention to her when she wanted to talk never failed to bring a smile to her face. She tried to cling to the feeling of happiness that simple gesture brought with it as she started into what she had to say.

“First of all, I don’t want you to worry, it’s nothing bad,” Zoey began, wanting to ease her boyfriend’s obvious concern. She paused to reconsider her words, “Well, I mean, it’s not exactly great, but not necessarily awful either. I would classify it more as weird, and weird can be good or bad I guess, so it will just depend how you see it.” She stopped when she saw a familiar half smile on Simon’s face and knew she was rambling. He only gave her that particular patient and amused smile when she was going on about something and she was always grateful that he somehow found her rants endearing. However, at this moment, she knew her rambling was probably escalating his confusion and concern rather than easing it.

“Before I get into what I want to tell you, it really is important that you know it will sound really bizarre and ridiculous and just…there aren’t enough words to prepare you for how absurd what I’m about to tell you really is. So please, no matter how you feel about what I tell you, just give me a chance to fully explain it to you,” Zoey pleaded, hoping that he would let her get through her explanation before leaving or trying to take her to the hospital to get examined.

Simon’s brow furrowed as his concern visibly increased, “I have to be honest, I have no idea where this is going, and that’s making me a little nervous.” His gaze swept over Zoey’s face as if he was looking for answers, “But whatever you have to say, I’m here and I’m listening.”

Zoey gave a small nod, reassured that Simon would let her at least say what she needed to. She didn’t want to delay too much longer as she felt bad she was causing him so much apprehension. “Let me start at the beginning,” Zoey announced, knowing that having some structure for what she was about to disclose would help her get through it. “You remember that earthquake a few months back?”

Simon nodded to indicate he remembered, but otherwise remained still as he patiently waited for her to continue.

“Okay, well, I was scheduled for an MRI that day and I was actually in the machine during the earthquake…”

“Wait, why were you getting an MRI?” Simon asked, sitting up as he looked at her with a worried expression.

Zoey didn’t mind the interruption as she could tell he was genuinely concerned and she gave him a warm smile, “I thought that I was developing the symptoms of the disease my dad has, even though my mom and basically everyone else was telling me that I was just paranoid and I was way too young to be showing any symptoms even if I did have it. But I wanted to get checked, just in case,” she watched as Simon nodded and settled back against the arm rest, satisfied that it hadn’t been anything more serious.

“So, I went to get the MRI and the technician put on music while I was in there - you know the REM song ‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It’? That’s what he decided to put on, which already was more than a little unsettling when you’re stuck in this small, loud tube with a giant magnet being used to take pictures of your brain, but then the earthquake started and it was just absolutely terrifying. Anyway, something happened and I still don’t know exactly what…Honestly, it may not even be related to the earthquake and the MRI machine, but I feel like it has to be, even though I’m not sure how…”

Zoey paused to catch her breath, she could tell Simon was listening closely, he still seemed both concerned and confused as he tried to figure out where she was going. She felt a little bad knowing that he would never in a million years be able to predict what was about to come out of her mouth.

“This is where the weird part comes in, so just please bare with me,” she warned, feeling her nerves begin to rise, wondering if this would be the moment that marked the end of the best relationship she’d ever had. “Ever since then, I’ve had this weird ability to hear people’s innermost thoughts or desires expressed through song. It doesn’t happen all the time, but sometimes when people feel something really strongly I can pick up on it because they perform it in a song - sometimes with full dance numbers and other people joining in - only I’m the only one who can see or hear it.”

Although she knew there was a lot more she needed to explain, she wanted to give Simon a moment to take in what she just said before she continued to throw even more information at him. She watched as his expression changed from confusion to disbelief to concern, back to disbelief as he slowly shook his head. “Zoey, what…I don’t understand. Are you saying that you picture people singing to you, like a daydream or something?”

“No, not exactly,” she said as she considered the question, relieved that was his first reaction and not immediately questioning her sanity. “I mean, I know it sounds like that because I’m the only one who can see it, but it’s different from a daydream. People sing about personal things that I would have no way of knowing if not for the song. And they’re not always singing to me…sometimes, yes, but other times it’s to someone else or to no one in particular. I’m just the only one who can hear it, and I know that I’m not just imagining it either, as weird as it sounds, it is real. They’re not really singing, but the personal stuff they’re trying to express is real and I know that because I have to then figure out what’s wrong and try to help them.”

Simon continued to watch her with an incredulous expression, “I don’t get it, is this some kind of test or something to see how I respond, like that inkblot test thing but with crazy stories? Or is it a prank where you tell me this story to try and get a reaction out of me and then follow it up with a ‘gotcha’? Because I am really ready for that ‘gotcha’ moment, Zoey.”

Zoey frowned and shook her head. She couldn’t fault him for thinking she was playing some sort of trick on him. As much as she wanted him to just go with it and was disheartened that he didn’t really believe her, she was also relieved he was still relatively calm about this whole situation. She thought back to when she told Max and how he had automatically assumed she was lying to try and avoid having a real conversation about his confession of love. That whole situation hadn’t gone particularly well, but she had eventually managed to convince him of the truth, she only hoped she could do the same with Simon.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, trust me, I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it and I’ve been dealing with it for six months. But I can try and prove it to you,” Zoey paused as she tried to think of a way to prove her powers to him. “Remember how I went to talk to Jessica at your engagement party and accidentally burned down that rose wall?”

“Definitely can’t forget that,” Simon confirmed, his expression still fluctuating between confusion and disbelief.

“Yeah, and I’m still sorry about that even though I guess it doesn’t matter since you two aren’t engaged anymore…which is so not the point. I went up to her in the first place because I knew she had found out about us, well, not that there was anything to really find out because we didn’t do anything other than talk…but I knew she found out you came over to my place that night because I heard her sing Say My Name to you, well, initially to you and then to me, which was a little terrifying because she had her whole bridal party doing back up and they were all very angry and kinda threatening…”

Simon cut off her rambling, “Wait, so Jessica sang to you at the engagement party? When?”

“During your speech,” Zoey explained. She watched as his confusion increased and decided to jump in to clarify her powers again before he could ask the questions that she could tell were about to leave his mouth, “Again, she didn’t really sing, she wasn’t aware of it anyway, and no one else at the party would have heard it or seen it. It wasn’t something she was consciously aware of, but she felt a lot of anger and betrayal and resentment towards the both of us and that manifested through that song, which only I could see or hear and that’s when I knew she must have found out somehow. So I wanted to go and apologize…but obviously that didn’t go exactly as planned with the smoked roses and all that.”

Simon ran hand over his hair before he stood up and began pacing Zoey’s living room. She watched him as he walked back and forth in front of the fireplace, clearly overwhelmed as he was trying to process what she was telling him. She decided to keep trying to provide examples of times she’d heard songs, hoping that was helping, and not hurting, her case.

“Oh, and when you told me that you and Jessica split up, the reason I wasn’t surprised was because I had seen you two performing that song Happier. It was a really beautiful performance actually, you two did this dance that was incredible and so sad…” she trailed off, knowing she wasn’t likely helping her case by going on about a performance that only she could see. She racked her brain for other examples of things she had learned through others’ performances.  
“You know how I told you that things between Max and I got weird when he admitted he had feelings for me?” Zoey knew he remembered because even though she and Max had been working on rebuilding their friendship, there was still this odd competitiveness whenever Simon and Max were in a room together. Simon paused his pacing to look over at her, clearly curious as to where this was going.

“I first found out he liked me when I heard him singing love songs to me in the office, he wasn’t actually singing to me - at least, not until that flash mob fiasco, but that was later, these were just songs only I could hear. It really freaked me out because I had no idea he had those feelings for me and I didn’t know what to do, so I kind of set him up with Autumn.”

“You heard him singing a love song and you set him up with someone else?” Simon clarified, his expression still confused.

“Yeah, I know that’s a pretty bad thing to do, but I couldn’t exactly be honest with him. What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey, I think you might be in love with me and I just want to let you know I don’t feel the same’? That would be way more awkward than what I did,” Zoey explained, even though she still felt a little bad for unintentionally setting Autumn up for pain in her attempt to avoid her friend’s feelings for her.

Simon hesitated as he considered that and nodded before he resumed pacing.

“So anyway, when Max orchestrated that flash mob, at first I thought it was just another heart song I was hearing, at least until I realized he was able to hear what I was saying, because normally no one else can hear me - except sometimes Mo, but we’re not going to get into that right now,” Zoey decided as she shifted directions, not wanting to get into the mechanics of her abilities, which still confused even her. “I didn’t know how to respond when he actually admitted how he felt out loud, but I was just not in a place to deal with that when there were so many other things going on…so I told him about my powers.”

Simon raised his eyebrows as he paused and turned to rest his hands on the arm of the sofa, facing Zoey, “So Max knows about this?”

Zoey nodded, “Yeah, I was hoping that telling him about all this would maybe take away some of the awkwardness of me not returning his feelings, which didn’t really work and actually led to a whole lot more drama that week because I had to try and find ways to prove it to him. Mo really helped, but Max was even more stubborn than usual because he thought I was just lying to avoid him, but he eventually came around.”

“Wait, so Mo knows about this too?” Simon asked, “Who else knows?”

She could tell that Simon was bothered by the fact Mo and Max both knew about her powers; she couldn’t blame him for being a little upset, after all, she and Simon were so open about everything else with each other, even things they’d never told anyone else. “Just my dad. It’s not something I really want other people to know about because I know how ridiculous it sounds. I’m so grateful Mo has been so helpful and understanding since the beginning, he has this list of the ‘rules’ of how my powers work. You know what, we should totally go talk to Mo right now and he can prove to you that I’m not crazy.” She stood up from the couch, thrilled to have someone so close by who could back her up.

“Zoey, wait,” Simon said, catching her hand to stop her from heading towards the door, “I never thought you were crazy, you don’t need Mo’s help to convince me of that.”

A small smile formed on Zoey’s lips as she felt a rush of relief that at least her boyfriend wasn’t questioning her sanity. “I’m really glad to hear that…but I still think it might help for us to talk to Mo so he can fill you in on the observations he’s made over the last few months.”

Simon hesitated but then nodded, “Okay, let’s go,” he agreed as he released her hand and began to follow her towards the door.

Zoey led the way across the hall and knocked on her neighbor’s door. Moments later, Mo answered, looking as fabulous as ever in a long wig and sequined top. “What a surprise, I usually don’t see you two this late…now, hearing you is another matter, but it’s a good thing I work most nights and have excellent noise-cancelling headphones on the nights I’m home.”

“Normally I might get embarrassed about something like that, but there are more important matters to discuss,” Zoey said as she walked into the apartment.  
“Please, make yourself at home, it’s not like I was getting ready to go out,” Mo muttered sarcastically as he shut the door behind Simon who trailed in behind his girlfriend.

“I’m sorry, I won’t keep you long,” Zoey apologized as she made her way into the living room, “I just told Simon about my powers and I was hoping you could back me up and go over the rules and stuff like you did with Max.”

“For the record, I told Zoey that we didn’t need to do this. I’m not gonna lie and say I get what’s going on…but she’s the most rational person I’ve ever met, I know she wouldn’t make something like this up,” Simon explained as he took a seat next to his girlfriend on the couch.

Zoey felt her heart swell at his words, feeling indescribable relief that Simon really did seem to believe her even if he didn’t understand her. Her fear that he would leave slowly began to ebb, not completely going away, but certainly less present in her mind.

Mo appraised Simon as he took a seat in an armchair facing the couple, “She told you about her powers and you haven’t passed out, run for the hills, or tried to have her committed? I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Mo said with an approving smile as he pulled out his phone, “Welcome to the secret little society of Zoey’s special powers, I apologize for not having a better name, but Zoey has rejected all of the amazing suggestions I’ve come up with.”

“Calling ourselves Zoey’s Zealots will definitely make people think I’ve completely lost my mind and that I’m trying to start a cult or something, especially because you keep talking about putting it on ‘team jackets’, which is just a supremely terrible idea,” Zoey defended herself.

“I disagree, but now is not the time to convince you that you’re wrong,” Mo replied as he began scrolling on his phone, “Okay, so here are the notes I’ve taken on Zoey’s powers. They started about six months ago, she hears people’s inner truths, which she’s decided to call heart songs - I could have come up with a better name, but honestly, at this point, I think we’re stuck with the term. Sometimes, time will freeze when she sings, other times it goes on as normal, which is why Zoey needs to be cautious about how much she engages in case people see her reacting to something that’s not actually happening.”

“Wait, time freezes?” Simon asked, as he glanced over at Zoey, “Like everything around you will stop completely?”

“Not exactly,” she clarified, “People are still doing things, sometimes people even join in as backup, but if not, they still look like they’re carrying on with their business…but when the song ends, it’s as if no time has passed.”

Simon shook his head as he took that in, “Okay,” he replied before glancing at Mo to continue.

“Zoey has a responsibility to help people when she hears their heart song and if she doesn’t then she’ll be haunted by the song and hear it everywhere until she does. We also learned that if she tries to bottle up her own emotions, she’ll end up performing her heart songs out loud - where everyone can see and hear them - whether she wants to or not.”

Zoey winced as she remembered the dreadful day she’d performed her heart songs out loud; fortunately, she’d been good about processing difficult emotions since then and had not yet had another glitch in her powers.

“You’ve performed songs out loud?” Simon asked, his expression incredulous as he glanced over at his girlfriend. 

“You remember that day in the meditation room?” 

Simon’s eyes widened, “Okay, that explains a lot,” he admitted “When you apologized for what you were going to say…and then later when you said if you sang it that it must be true,” he nodded slowly as he put the pieces together.

“Yeah, I didn’t have control over anything that day and it was really horrible…I thought I was going to scare you away for good,” she explained, “I’m so glad you didn’t run away or refuse to ever talk to me again after that.”

“I mean, I almost walked out because I didn’t know what was happening…but I couldn’t walk away from that,” he said as his expression took on an almost dazed look as he thought back to her performance.

Zoey had to admit she was pretty pleased with herself for how that particular performance had turned out, she hadn’t been aware she was capable of such seductive movement until she sang to Simon. 

“Okay, well it looks like you two are about three seconds away from reenacting that performance, so I’d say my work here is done,” Mo said as he stood up, “Now excuse me while I finish getting ready and please take the hetero love-making back to your apartment.”

Zoey glanced away from Simon, embarrassed for being called out for the thoughts that had been going through her mind. “Right, we should go back to my place,” she agreed as she stood up, “To talk,” she clarified as she took in Simon’s surprised expression. As much as she wouldn’t mind repeating that performance again, she knew they still had a lot to talk about tonight.

“Thanks for your help, Mo,” she called out as she led the way out of her friend’s apartment and back to her own place. 

The couple returned to the living room and settled back on the couch, facing one another. “I know that’s a lot to take in,” Zoey said as she watched her boyfriend closely for his reaction, “How are you feeling?”

Simon took a breath as he considered the question, “Honestly, I don’t really know. Confused mostly, because I did not see this coming. I’ve never heard of anything like what you two were just describing. But like I said, you’re the most rational and logical person I know. I’ve seen you fact-check your friends on social media and seek out no less than three credible sources before stating an opinion on anything. You don’t do things impulsively and you don’t believe what you hear without proof. So for you to be saying all this…and to know it’s been happening for months and isn’t the result of some new neurologic injury…I believe what you’re telling me. It’s still hard to understand how or why it’s happening, but clearly, something is happening.”

Zoey let out a relieved exhale before offering Simon a small smile, “I’m so happy you believe me, you don’t know how nervous I was to tell you…but I guess I just want to ask if this has changed anything between us? Or how you feel about me?”

Simon paused to consider the question, “It will take some time to get used to the idea that my girlfriend has this…unique ability,” he answered honestly, “But if you’re wondering if it changes how I feel about you, the answer is no. This isn’t going to scare me off or anything like that.”

Zoey couldn’t help but grin at the response as she cautiously moved closer until Simon opened his arms and she could settle into his embrace, feeling more calm and settled than she had in a long time without any trace of fear or nerves lingering in the back of her mind. 

They stayed wrapped up in each for a long moment before Zoey finally pulled away, “You have no idea how much this means to me, I already thought you were the most perfect boyfriend ever, but this just confirms it.”  
“Well obviously,” Simon joked, a smile playing at his lips.

“If you ever have questions about any of it, I promise I’ll always answer as best I can. There’s still a lot that I don’t even know, so I can’t say I’ll be much help, but I’ll always try,” Zoey promised.

“If we’re together when it’s happening, can you let me know?” Simon asked, “I’m just curious, I mean, it sounds like it won’t seem different at all to me, but still. I’d just be interested to know when you’re experiencing something like that.”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Zoey nodded, “Most of the time I probably won’t be able to tell you until after because of the weird effect on time where it won’t seem like any time has passed for you, but if it does that weird time warp thing where I can talk to you while it’s happening, I’ll let you know.”

“Time warp…now that would be kind of a cool performance to see,” Simon mused, more to himself than Zoey.

She chuckled at the comment, picturing what it would be like to see a bunch of people she knew singing and dancing to the number from Rocky Horror Picture Show, “Agreed, but I highly doubt that would ever be a heart song for someone, so I don’t think I’ll get to see that one.”

“Good point,” Simon agreed. He thought for a moment before glancing back at Zoey, “So I know you said you saw me sing Happier as a duet with Jessica…have you seen me sing anything else?”

Zoey nodded, “You were one of the very first people I ever heard perform a heart song,” she admitted, “We were working late at the office one night and you sang Mad World, it was so beautiful and haunting. Even before I knew that hearing a heart song meant I needed to help someone, it just made me want to talk to you and get to know you and figure out what could possibly cause that kind of raw display of emotion.”

Simon paused for a moment as something seemed to click in place, “The cereal bar…when you came up to me that day and we had our first conversation and then went to get the Cheesequakes.”

“Yeah, hearing your heart song gave me the push I needed to finally talk to you,” Zoey explained. 

“Well, I’m really glad it did,” Simon said with a smile which soon began to falter. “Have all of the important talks and moments we’ve had started because of a heart song?”

“You actually don’t sing them all that often. I wasn’t lying when I told you that with most people it takes a whole song and dance, but with you I can just tell how you’re feeling.”

Simon’s smile returned at the reminder of the conversation, “I remember that…at the time I remember thinking it was kind of a weird way to describe that, but mostly I was just impressed how easily you could tell how I was feeling.”

“I usually don’t need a song to know what’s going on with you,” Zoey confirmed, “But, uh, the night of our first quasi date right after your breakup. I heard you singing Mad World again and it hit me that you were still going through a lot with your grief and that you weren’t ready for a new relationship just yet. Which is why I left so suddenly - sorry about that, by the way.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Simon said as he nodded, “I racked my brain for days trying to figure out what I did to make you decide to leave. I thought it was because I didn’t laugh at your tennis joke. I mean, it was pretty funny, but if I laughed at a bad pun on a first date, who knows what kind of monster I would create.”

Zoey laughed as she thought back to that night, which hadn’t gone the way either of them had expected. Fortunately, their first real first date a couple months later had gone much better. 

“So other than those, any other songs that you’ve seen me perform?” Simon asked curiously.

“Uh, a couple times, mostly just little bits of songs around the office,” Zoey said as she focused her gaze on the painting over the fireplace. She could tell her voice did that thing where it increased in pitch when she was lying or trying to play it cool. 

Unfortunately, Simon was also good at picking up on her little tells, “The songs you hear are usually things people want to express but keep to themselves?” 

Zoey nodded as her gaze darted back to her boyfriend, who looked almost nervous as he also glanced around the room.

“So, have I, uh, sang anything recently?” 

“Mhmm,” Zoey hummed, feeling her heart rate pickup as she wondered if Simon had any insight into what she had heard the other day. “Last Tuesday after we watched that true crime documentary and you let me ramble on about my theories for like an hour after.”

He shifted on the couch, appearing even more nervous as he paused to think before he spoke, “Am I going to regret asking what I sang?”

Zoey was taken aback by the wording of the question and she stopped to think through her reply, “No, I mean, I don’t think you have anything to regret. It was a solid song choice, great artist, your voice was incredible, it was really, um, something.” She hoped he didn’t take her nerves for discomfort or think she hadn’t enjoyed the performance, because that was certainly not the case.

“Okay…so what did I sing?” 

“Um, you sang Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me,” Zoey answered, feeling her heart pound in her chest. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous, but figured it had to be because they were broaching a topic that hadn’t yet come up in their relationship. They’d made it clear they both really like each other, but that other ‘L’ word hadn’t come up yet…at least not in conversation. She risked a glance over at Simon who didn’t look surprised, but anxious as he took in that bit of information.

“And how did you react?”

Zoey brought her attention back to Simon who was nearly frozen with nerves as he waited for her response. She thought back to that day and how she had immediately started to swoon as soon as he started into the song, her heart racing as he crooned ‘Make me tell you I’m in love with you’. “I liked it…a lot,” she admitted hesitantly, figuring it was only fair to be honest with him since he was the one who had performed a heart song like that to her. However, she wasn’t about to admit how into the performance she’d really been and was glad he hadn’t been able to see how she’d practically melted while he sang to her.

Simon seemed to relax a bit, his shoulders releasing their tension as he gave a small nod. His brows slightly furrowed as he got lost in his thoughts, “Wait, Tuesday? Was that the day…”

“That we stayed up until 3am having sex? Yeah, it was,” Zoey answered, knowing that was probably a more honest answer for how she reacted to the performance. 

A proud smile formed on Simon’s face and the last trace of nerves vanished, “So I take it that means you really enjoyed the song then.”

Zoey felt her cheeks flush at the confident tone in Simon’s voice, knowing it was now all too obvious the effect it had on her. “It was a really good song,” she admitted, “And since only I could hear it and I couldn’t really say anything after it was done, I guess I wanted to, I don’t know, show you how I felt about it.”

“I’m really glad you did,” Simon replied, his smile still firmly in place, “That night was amazing.”

Zoey nodded in agreement, it really had been an incredible night for both of them. However, now that Simon knew about her ability to hear heart songs, she could finally get an answer to the question that had been on her mind all week. “Can I ask you something? What was it about that night that made you feel so strongly? I mean, we were just at my apartment watching a documentary, it wasn’t like I said or did anything special.”

Simon let out a low chuckle as he looked away before returning his gaze to meet Zoey’s. “I still don’t really get how your powers work, but all I can say is that night, while I was listening to you tell me all about your theories and getting so worked up and excited about the research you’d done…I just kept thinking about how happy I am that we finally got together because I am honestly just so in love with you, Zoey.”

Even though she’d heard him admit those feelings several days earlier through song, actually hearing Simon say them out loud to her caused Zoey’s heart to race even faster than it had while watching his performance. She couldn’t believe that hearing her go on and on about her true crime theories had made him feel that way about her and she also couldn’t believe someone as incredible as Simon loved her even more for her weird little quirks instead of in spite of them.

“I’m so in love with you too,” she admitted, relief coursing through her as she was finally able to express the sentiment that had been building for weeks. 

Simon grinned, his joy at hearing those words evident on his face. He leaned closer and Zoey did the same, meeting him halfway as their lips connected in a tender kiss. It wasn’t long before the kiss began to escalate in intensity, with Simon’s hands sliding into her hair as he deepened the kiss.

Zoey parted her lips, allowing Simon’s tongue entry to her mouth before teasing it with her own. His hold on her tightened ever so slightly and she shifted closer to eliminate some of the space between them. Their increasingly passionate kiss continued on for several long, blissful minutes until she finally pulled away to catch her breath. She noticed that she had made her way onto Simon’s lap, his hands now gripping her hips. While she loved a good make out session as much as the next person, after the feelings they’d just expressed to one another, she needed more.

She stood up and offered a hand to her boyfriend, pulling him as she began to back towards the bedroom. 

Simon grinned as he caught on to what was happening, “Think we can top what we did on Tuesday?” He teased as he followed her into her bedroom.

“Well, it is Saturday so it’s not like we have anywhere to be tomorrow…” Zoey pointed out, knowing they could sleep in as late as they wanted the next day.

Simon grin widened at the response. He topped when they reached the bed and pulled Zoey into his arms, “I love you,” he murmured against her lips before capturing them in a heated kiss.

As Zoey returned the kiss, she was certain she would never get tired of hearing those words.

**Author's Note:**

> As a strong supporter of Team Simon, I am shocked and saddened by the lack of Zoey/Simon love on this site. As of writing this author's note, there's only one other fic (which was great!) so I wanted to do my part to support the ship. If there are any other Zoey/Simon shippers out there and you have ideas for oneshots or stories you'd like to see, let me know! I can't promise I'll write every prompt I get, but I'll do my best to do something with it.


End file.
